Purpose Statement
-Examine current education issues
-Stay informed about legislation regarding those issues
-Determine ramifications of legislation and the effects on students
-Provide accurate information regarding candidates and issues to district voters
-Establish relationships with our legislators
-Mobilize parents and community members to advocate for positive change in education policies and laws

Friday, June 4, 2010

Letters to State Officials Regarding the School Aid Fund

According to recent Grand Rapids Press articles, the State of Michigan may have more money in the School Aid Fund than they had anticipated in January 2004. To our dismay, our State of Michigan Legislators, including Senator Mark Jansen, are considering taking money out of the School Aid Fund to pay for other items in the budget. Although we feel strongly that Community Colleges need to be funded (Senator Jansen suggests paying for Community Colleges with School Aid dollars), the School Aid Fund was approved by voters in 1994 under Proposal A for the purpose of funding K-12 schools. We need to ask our legislators to leave the School Aid Fund for K-12 schools and to fully fund it by June 30, 2010 so that our schools can get their business done without guessing, borrowing and having mid-year cuts next year.

Take a look at the letters below. Please consider pasting them into an email and sending them to our legislators. The addresses are in the next column. They do listen when they hear from us. We need to work together!! Thanks--Lucy Lafleur

Dear Senator Jansen--
I have learned that the School Aid Fund may have more money than anticipated in January 2010. While this is very good news for our schools, I have also learned that some unwise decisions are being considered in Lansing regarding the utilization of these funds for areas of the budget that do not have to do with schools. Please resist this and vote against the use of the School Aid fund for anything other than funding our K-12 public schools.

Regards from an East Grand Rapids Voter,

Dear Representative Hildenbrand--

I have learned that the School Aid Fund may have more money than anticipated in January 2010. While this is very good news for our schools, I have also learned that some unwise decisions are being considered in Lansing regarding the utilization of these funds for areas of the budget that do not have to do with schools. Please resist this and vote against the use of the School Aid fund for anything other than funding our K-12 public schools.